Known record changers are of two general types, i.e., rotary or linear. In both types, either the mechanism for the loading and reproduction of the information on the record is fixed and the magazine is movable or the magazine is fixed and the loading/reproduction mechanism for the record is movable.
Although changers of the rotary type are particularly well suited to apparatus having magazines for storing a large number of records, linear changers in which the magazine is movable are preferred for reasons of space where the number of records stored in the magazine is moderate (for example, ten to twenty records). Linear-type changers in which the loading/reproduction mechanism is movable have not been extensively used commercially because the precise displacement of this mechanism requires complicated components which have proved very expensive and not very reliable.
Linear-type changers in which the magazine is movable have only had a limited success because, in order to remain compact and, in particular, to meet the standards laid down for home equipment, they cannot contain more than six to seven records or cassettes. This capacity is too low to really justify a changer. Based on commercial and practical considerations, therefore, it is when a record changer is capable of storing more than ten records that a changer becomes justified.